So 3 months. 12 weeks. 90 days. Wow. Some days it feels like I've been here for years, other days it feels like I arrived last week. Not sure which is the better feeling...
Not sure what to write about in this 3rd blog, but I'm sure I'll manage. The last two blogs I had a defined reason for writing, this time, I feel like perhaps I should get my feelings written down, not just the practical side of living in Sydney. Practical side first though anyways, methinks...
So have a new lease of life now that I've signed up to the car 'rental' scheme. It's absolutely genuis. And it gives me the choice of being able just to 'pop' out for a couple of hours to do those dreaded errands that are a nightmare on foot. I've considered actually buying a car, but for the times that I need to use it, the rental is definitely the cheaper option. Next on the shopping list is a bike - buying it this weekend. Have realised there's quite a few bike trails for us to use on the weekends around Balmain, so gets me out of the house, I get a little excercise and it's FREE! And yes, I probably will look like Hetty Wainthrop on my bike :)
It amazes me that Australia as a whole seems to be advanced in some ways, but decades behind in others. They are leaders in sun skincare (there is never an adbreak on the tv without being reminded of skin cancer - hence the 30 factor everyday, even if its overcast), their fresh fruit and veg in the supermarkets are divine (does put Tesco et al shame) and just general lifestyle ways are so ahead of the UK. People seem to spend so much more time outside (obvious fact insertion of good weather here), but they think of nothing of driving 4-5 hours at the weekend to go away somewhere, just for a break. If we drive over 5 hours in the UK, we're nearly in scotland - anything over an hour or two is classed as 'too far' for a weekend getaway on a friday. We only consider driving those hours if we're going away for a week. But the Aussies are raised on acknowledging that their country is so big, you have to drive (or fly) for that long, just to get somewhere interesting - and they make that effort. We could do more, considering that you are never further than 75 miles from a beach in the UK....
The negatives would be that technology is about 10 years behind. The nightmare I had to get a landline and Wifi installed was horrendous (i'll never complain about Sky or BT doing the whole thing in a day again). However, the one thing I have noticed is that it sometimes feels that you has stepped back in time to the 1950's. Example: Most kids get out of their seats on the bus for older passengers without being asked - its instinctive. Men on a whole are a lot more chivalrous out here - whenever I get into the lift at work, as soon as we get to the ground floor, the men stay back and let all the women leave the lift first. Every. Single. Time. Its so lovely to see. And I'm not saying the british men don't do that, its just its not very common. And here, it's every shop you go in (men hold the doors open), at the bars (men allow you to get served first) - its just a little 'old school'. And I like that. And I hope that that part of the Aussie way doesn't change too rapidly. So, last week I was on the bus (public transport is brilliant out here - although if it was tweaked slightly, it would be world class) - and my ticket got swallowed up by the machine. After lengthy discussions with the driver (whilst he was negotiating the streets of sydney), he told me to write down my name and address and i'll have it sent back to me. I was a little hesitant as a) how do I know I will get it back and b) I've just given my address to some random driver. Anyway, I handed my address over, convinced that I wouldn't see said ticket again and that my flat would be burgled! However, today, I get home and *TA-DA* my ticket is in an envelope which had been posted to my address with a note apologising for any inconvenience. Would that happen in London? Would you be so trusting? Would they?
So, that's some of the detail of living in a different city. Some of these things are state-the-bleeding-obvious simple, but some aren't. Sydney is a wonderful place. It has amazing parts that constantly surprise you (the little bars down side alleys which you find on a random lunchtime walk), the access to the beaches, the harbour bridge and the opera house (natch). You can't beat those views when having a cheeky drink after a hard day at work. However..... For those of you who know me well, I was never a 'london-ite' and to get me into the capital took a lot of cajoling, blackmail and promises of copious amounts of red wine. But what I have noticed is that in london, you have an abundance of different areas, that no matter what time of day (or night) you get there, they seem to be teeming with people and just by taking a left hand turn, you're in a different area completely. I just don't see that in Sydney. Its very spread out and there just doesn't seem to be that general *vibe* here. Although, on the flip side, I feel extremely safe walking around sydney at night alone. There are no 'gangs' of kids on street corners and there are no *yoofs* with their trousers halfway down their arses, walking around like they have a tennis ball caught under one foot. God, I'm beginning to sound like my mum.
Funnily enough, I've had a lot of chats with my sydney girls, my workmates and, obviously, my family and close friends about my time here so far. And I know that, right now, I can't see myself living here long term. Yes, its an amazing city, I do love Australia - but its not going anywhere and I can come back for holidays as often as I want. I'll always have good friends living here (accommodation - sorted!), but to me, my family and close friends mean everything to me. My immediate family consists of 12 people - that's a lot. Most people only have 3 or 4. But they are my lifeline and I need to be with them. That's just me and how my world works. And I have missed being with them, arguing, laughing and having a cuddle off them all....
So, my plan is this - stay in Sydney for another year - make the most of it and have the lifestyle that I've always wanted. Then, around May next year, plan my route home (hopefully taking in some travelling like Vietnam, Hong Kong, Cuba, Hawaii and the states), just in time for the summer months in the UK. And then try and find a job - and not in recruitment sales, I've decided. I want to change my career (not sure to what yet, so any ideas would be gratefully received) and live a more work/life balance existence - because Sydney has given me that. It's made me get off the corporate wheel and sit back and look at what I have, what I've done and what I want.
There has been a lot of thinking and weighing up of the pros and cons since I've been here. I've spent more time on my own out here than I have collectively in my entire life! And I've grown to realise that I like my own company and that being alone (but not lonely) is a good thing. Gives you space and time. But, regardless of where I end up, by coming out here I've proved to myself that I can achieve things, if I put my mind to it. Without Sydney, I would never have sold the house and got out of that catch 22. Without Sydney, I would never have known that home is where *my* heart is. And without Sydney, I wouldn't be planning to change my life again.
Watch this space :)
Big snogs
Hols
xxxxxx
